A lot has happened to the metrics of this competition over the last few weeks, given the two public votes held at the start of S18. So its now time to give you a statistics update. Of the 128 entries received so far, Europe has stormed ahead after a quiet start to 2018, claiming 51% of all FTWAs. South and North America are the closest regions to Europe, posting tallies of 16% and 14% respectively. Asia leads the third group of regions with 7% of all entries, ahead of Australasia and the Middle East (both on 5%) and Africa (3%). The anna.aero judges are yet to receive a water arch from the Caribbean region. So this is a call to airports of that region – get busy with the fire tenders!! It should also be noted that not only has flydubai delivered back-to-back wins, following its victory at Krakow last week, it is the only airline with two slots inside the top 10. Keep Monitoring!!

Date

Route

FTWA Airport

Score

08-Apr

flydubai Dubai to Krakow

Krakow (KRK)

37.1

11-Feb

Qatar Airways Doha to Canberra

Canberra (CBR)

35.9

28-Jan

Tianjin Airlines Zhengzhou to Sydney

Sydney (SYD)

35.2

09-Jan

Philippines AirAsia Manila to Jakarta

Jakarta (CGK)

35

14-Feb

Frontier Airlines Denver to Jacksonville

Jacksonville (JAX)

34.4

18-Jan

United Airlines Houston Intercontinental to Sydney

Sydney (SYD)

32.4

02-Feb

Philippines AirAsia Clark to Tacloban

Tacloban (TAC)

32.4

28-Feb

SalamAir Muscat to Shiraz

Shiraz (SYZ)

32.3

10-Apr

flydubai Dubai to Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik (DBV)

31.8

02-Jan

Air Europa Madrid to Quito

Quito (UIO)

31.6

flydubai Dubai to Dubrovnik 10 April

Double-bubble this week from flydubai…

Judges’ comments: There are three airlines with more than one entry each this week – namely Allegiant Air, flydubai and Transavia. The average score for the two Allegiant Air water arches is 30.4. For the flydubai FTWAs its average tally is 30.8, whereas the trio of water arches from their European counterpart managed a tawdry average result of just 20.5, so the Middle East LCC wins the battle of the airlines this week. The one above also won this week’s competition…

Jonny: 8.1; Kerry: 7.8; Marc: 7.9; Nick: 8.0.

Allegiant Air Indianapolis to Sarasota 11 April

FTWAs are our deal…not travel…

Judges’ comments: There is a good shape to this FTWA, not quite a pair of leaping dolphins, perhaps more a duo of lethargic dolphins, but there is a good structure all the same.If only we could see the tenders on either side of the water arch then this Floridian inaugural flight flood may well have scored that little bit higher.

Jonny: 7.2; Kerry: 7.6; Marc: 8.2; Nick: 7.5.

Transavia Paris Orly to Olbia 11 April

The first of three Transavia FTWAs this week…

Judges’ comments: The firefighters at Olbia must have known that the pressure was on (unlike the pressure in the tender) when it learnt that it was the first of three airports to welcome a new Transavia link from Paris Orly this week (the other two are below). As a result, it appears that the team in Sardinia buckled under the pressure. Not only did just half of the team turn up for the arrival (where is the left-hand tender??), but the crew of Tender 3 produced an arch which can only be described as ‘meh’…

Jonny: 3.9; Kerry: 3.8; Marc: 3.7; Nick: 4.0.

EGYPTAIR Cairo to Moscow Domodedovo 12 April

Special livery FTWA at Domodedovo…

Judges’ comments: The aircraft above is in a special colour scheme. EGYPTAIR received the 737-800 (SU-GEN) on 8 December last year, but on 12 April it was used on the airline’s first flight to Moscow Domodedovo. It is the official carrier for the Egyptian National Football Team. The aircraft is painted in a special Egyptian football team livery in support of the national team, which will take part in this summer’s football World Cup. Shame we couldn’t see a bit more of it…

Jonny: 7.8; Kerry: 7.0; Marc: 6.9; Nick: 7.5.

Transavia Paris Orly to Rabat 12 April

#2 from Transavia…you are witnessing a rare spectacle in Arch of Triumph terms…

Judges’ comments: Before this week, we had only received two FTWAs from Africa, the lowest tally (with the exception of the Caribbean from where we have have had none) of all the competing regions. And yet this week we have received two entries. The first two entries from the region were only sent in during the last two weeks of competition, so its like the African lion has finally woken…and now its roaring!! And we love it!!

Jonny: 4.2; Kerry: 4.4; Marc: 5.2; Nick: 4.5.

Allegiant Air Cincinnati to Sarasota 13 April

It’s round #2 for Allegiant Air at Sarasota…

Judges’ comments: Side-on FTWA angles are like Marmite (or Vegemite given your geographical location) to anna.aero’s judges…we either love them or hate them. It all depends on making sure the characteristics are right. In this effort from Sarasota we have the branding (including new Alleigant Air livery), an elegant arch, plus a nice nozzle-on shot of the salute. However the glare from the tender windscreen and the graininess of the image let it down somewhat. We may pass on this Marmite FTWA spread this time around…

Jonny: 7.5; Kerry: 7.7; Marc: 7.5; Nick: 7.6.

HOP! Paris Orly to La Rochelle 13 April

The fire crews at La Rochelle were asked to HOP! to it for this inaugural service…

Judges’ comments: This is only the ninth turboprop FTWA that we have had so far in the 2018 competition, which represents just 7% of the 125 that have been supplied since January. It is also only the ninth water arch that a regional airline has been blessed with too – again a 7% tally for this type of business model.

Jonny: 7.8; Kerry: 8.0; Marc: 7.7; Nick: 7.9.

flydubai Dubai to Kinshasa 15 April

First-time effort from the DRC capital…and its not a bad one either!

Judges’ comments: Kinshasa is the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and this is the first time that the anna.aero judges have received a FTWA from the African city. Often the first entry that an airport sends is not great, but that is not the case here. Most of the elements are there, just that right-hand tender letting the team down…so hopefully the second water arch we are sent from Kinshasa will be an improvement on the above effort…

Jonny: 7.9; Kerry: 7.0; Marc: 7.3; Nick: 7.5.

Transavia Paris Orly to Alicante 15 April

‘How low can you go’ with this water arch…

Judges’ comments: This FTWA has clearly fallen below the critical threshold for an acceptable water arch angle. As a result of this geometry issue, this FTWA is experiencing what the anna.aero judges call ‘pancaking’. While pancakes are indeed a tasty treat enjoyed by many, the adjudicators of this competition tend to gag on such an FTWA unfortunately…

Jonny: 6.9; Kerry: 6.8; Marc: 7.5; Nick: 6.7.

Air France Paris CDG to Taipei Taoyuan 16 April

Another sunny day in Taiwan…

Judges’ comments: This FTWA from Taipei Taoyuan is the first entry from the airport this year. It was taken on a grey day in Taiwan which makes it tricky to spot the arch…or indeed the aircraft’s tail. A reasonable effort despite the right-hand fire tender being obscured by the arriving 777 and the arch failing to meet in the middle…